Listen to records on giant speakers over coffee
A listening cafe, or kissa, is an old style of Japanese cafe where you sit facing huge speakers and listen to records over a cup of coffee: a meikyoku kissa plays classical music, and a jazz kissa plays jazz. Many ask you to keep conversation down so everyone can listen, which makes them ideal for an afternoon on your own. You need no Japanese beyond ordering a coffee, and lingering for an hour or more over one cup is normal.
A classical music cafe in Shibuya where a wooden speaker over 3 meters tall stands at the front of a two-story room, and the chairs face it like seats in a concert hall. Talking and taking photos are not allowed, so you simply sit and listen. Record concerts are held at set times each day, which you can plan your visit around.
A long-running jazz cafe in Yotsuya, central Tokyo, where a large JBL speaker system plays jazz records. From midday until 6 p.m., the rule is to keep conversation down so everyone can focus on the music; in the evening it becomes more of a bar. It is closed on Sundays and public holidays.
A jazz cafe on the third floor of a building just outside the west exit of Chitose-Karasuyama Station, where JBL speakers that have played for decades fill the room. About 3,800 records line the wall behind the counter. The station is a short ride from Shinjuku on the Keio Line, and the cafe opens in the afternoon and stays open late.
A jazz cafe up on a second floor in Shimokitazawa, a neighborhood of vintage clothing shops and small theaters, that carries on the name of a famous jazz kissa first opened in 1953. Its large JBL speakers came from the original shop, so you hear the records through the same sound that played there for decades. It is closed on Thursdays.